Immanuel

God be with us.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Merry Christmas!!

Palm Sunday

Discussion Question: 

Holy week is upon us. HOLY week. Interesting. What's so "holy" about it? According to the Bible story, Jesus goes into Jerusalem on a donkey as a King lauded by the crowds; before the week is out, He's dead on a cross--killed by those same crowds?

What's so "Holy" about these events? about the crowd's behavior? about Jesus' horrific death?
What's "Holy" about this week?
How can we take this "Holy" and apply the concept to our lives?

~~ Sue Marie

Response:

So, what's up with Holy Week? It was a time of mind-stretching and heart-wrenching, especially for the 12 apostles. Jesus, who had several times up to this point, identified himself as the God of Heaven to the Jewish leaders, is now riding into Jerusalem on a young donkey as a king of old would have done. The significance lost on the disciples and the people was that He was showing Himself to be the King of Heaven, not earth. On Palm Sunday, the people saw Jesus as an earthly king. So, when they saw him being killed on the cross, later in the week, they only saw a human king being killed. Symbolically, they were not looking beyond their earthly, human egos; they were not seeing the "big picture" that Jesus was God of the Universe.

He first comes to us in and through His Word, such as the Bible, the Torah, the Vedas, or the Gothas. Once we start learning the truth, the light dawns in our minds and the first day of creation, as described in the Book of Genesis, occurs. When we begin living our lives according to the Divine Precepts and keep them by binding them on our brows (Deuteronomy 6:8), i.e., foremost in our minds, we begin to grow a wonderful garden. But when we go further still and begin to think of the spirit behind these Divine Precepts, we begin to see God as no longer just a pagan, earthly god, but as the God of Heaven, and, therefore, also God of the earth and universe.

That's what makes this week "holy"--when we realize that the God of the Universe came to earth and humbled himself to live among us in order to bring us into union with Himself.

The practical application of this "holy" is to recognize that we need to raise our natural (earthly-based) sight into the spiritual realm and start seeing the "bigger picture" with our spiritual eyes, which is that our lives are lives of spirit--of heavenly values--not just of human, earthly values. We need to recognize that we, too, can unite with God in our spiritual paths and that our ultimate life is a heavenly one in the Lord's Kingdom.

Jesus' death represents, on one level, that, for some of us, the attainment of heaven involves horrific pain and suffering in order to empty ourselves of our earthly egos and desires so that we are humbled to be open to receiving God's spiritual blessings and, ultimately, union with Him.

"May Your will be done, not mine."

~~ Rev. Bob